Around the Web

On Goodreads

Meta

Tag: goals

I’m sincerely impressed to be that close to reaching, and by the looks of it exceeding, my goal. I know the GoodReads Challenge isn’t the most creative challenge, I still feel like that’s pretty cool.

Now, I know I’ve read some novellas and GoodReads counts them but I don’t. Not really anyway. And I know manga barely makes it as a book (at least in my perspective. I’m harder on myself when it comes to reading and set my standard at two manga per book). So I plan to exceed my goal of 65 books by reading at least 72 books to offset.

So, here we are. Twenty-four days into 2017 and I’m wondering if I’ve been productive enough. You know, if I’m off to a good start or not. And as always, I’ve thought a lot about this blog, what it means to me, and what (if any) are the plans for its continuation into 2017. Should I still do it? Should I keep doing things the way I’m doing it? Should I scrap it and start over? I mean, what’s the point? There are millions of blogs out there covering all kinds of topics. And I tend to focus on movies, television, and books reviewing them at my leisure, but there are so many out there. There are so many better ones out there, why do it? What am I contributing this fine industry that is entertainment? And the internet for that matter.

For me, it started off as a jumping-off-a-cliff type of thing. I wanted to get used to writing for an audience. Before this blog, most of my writing was done on an academic level so only my professors and very few classmates got to read what I wrote. For the most part, I did pretty well as far as grades go. I felt like I needed to take the next step. Or a different step. My research papers, essays, creative writings are, more or less, decent on a collegiate level, but now what? Do I try short stories? Do I participate in contests? Do I submit papers to the school journal?

These ideas terrified me if I’m being honest. I suppose they would intimidate anyone who has never considered writing for a bigger audience. A different audience. The court of public opinion (is that being a bit dramatic? Maybe, considering I don’t really have that many followers (when compared to others, that is). Anyway, I needed to take a step . . . somewhere.

Blogging was all the rage around 2012. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was all the rage earlier than that, but that’s when I stepped into the blogging scene. And because I’m such a data junkie, I took a look at my stats from when this blog was first published on WordPress.com and then moved to WordPress.org in 2015. I was expecting to see lower numbers than I have. I’m not saying I’m doing immensely well, but for someone who was expecting to see maybe a hundred or so views and visits, I did not expect the 1,449 views and the 899 visits in 2016 alone. I’ve gone from publishing 11 posts in 2012 to 367 posts in 2015.

So, what does this mean? I have no clue. Back to my initial point. Why?

I googled “Why do people blog?” I did this to see what reasons are floating around out there. I know your reason is only as good as your reason, but I was curious to see why others do it.

ShoutMeLoud.com published a post listing the top 10 reasons why people blog and those are solid reasons. Things like networking, connecting with like-minded people, self-promotion, to name a few. One reason did appeal to me, though, because it aligns with why I started. To satisfy your creative side. To quote the section on this reason:

To Satisfy Your Creative Side

Sometimes your mind is abuzz with creative ideas, which you are not too sure of, expressing openly, you have a lot of fear of their acceptance, or you are not too sure how to start something like that, blogs are the best option for unleashing your creative ideas.

It not only gives you readers who might admire your work piece but also gives your confidence a boast.

Perhaps. Okay, yes. I mean, there are these tiny thoughts that populate my mind constantly and while I journal regularly, some thoughts just want to be heard, or written out loud.

Do I have a fear of acceptance?

I would like to answer this one with a resounding YES! because that seems to be the case, right? I wanted to jump off a cliff, so to speak, and get comfortable writing to an audience. But truthfully, I don’t completely fear acceptance. It may be more like I fear rejection. I fear ridicule. I fear negative comments and feedback.

So, where does that leave me?

411 Junkie started as a way for me to voice my thoughts on the information I gather from daily living. To put them into a post. To send them into the internet, curious to see who actually reads and responds to it. To see who provides feedback.

So it’s going to stay that way. Except, I’m going to open up the floor to include anything and everything worth sharing. Focusing on movies, television, and books is advice given by many individuals who gave advice on how to make a successful blog or how to turn your blog into a business. While I find this to be very good advice, I guess my definition of success is a bit different. I’m not set out to make money with this blog (although, maybe, perhaps, one day, I could use it to help me freelance some stuff. Maybe. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get there). And considering the walk-through I just gave myself, my definition of success, the purpose of this blog, was to give my inner musings an outlet.

I know I did a mini review of 2016 on the first, but really it should be 2016, A Summary because I know I didn’t wrap up much. To be honest, I’ve tiptoed around a full recap because I didn’t feel like I accomplished much in 2016. I had good reasons, but still.

I accomplished my GoodReads challenge of reading 50 books and actually surpassed it at 65 books. I surprised myself, but towards the end of the year I locked my mind up in books :). Sadly, out of all the books I read, my “26 Books” challenge was left unfinished at 7 missed books. As much

Sadly, out of all the books I read, my “26 Books” challenge was left unfinished at seven missed books. I didn’t think I missed that many, but there it is.

This year, I’ve set my GoodReads challenge of at 65 books, hoping to at least match last years reading accomplishment. Some of my favorite book series has a book being released this year so I’m looking forward to that and hoping to check them off my list, contributing to this 65 books.

In addition, a new member of Litsy as of this year, I’m considering their AtoZ challenge but I’m trying to find something else. My deadline for finding this list is the end of this week. And since this is a review blog of sorts, kinda, that’s the intention anyway, I’ll make it a point to post 4 book reviews each month.

As for movies, well . . . that’s harder, isn’t it? It’s not like there’s a movie challenge. Okay, I stand corrected because, of course, I googled “movie challenges” and got back a few lists. I’ll scan through those to see if any piques my interest. I will make it a point to post at least 4 movie reviews each month.

And now we come to television. That has become a gray area for me. So many series I’ve left mid-series, some I want to get back to but just can’t seem to get to it. There’s Hart of Dixie, Suits, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, to name a few. But I am up-to-date on Scorpion and I’m happy they’re well into season three. It’s a good show!

Sighs. Again, television. That’s hard, but this post is all about my intentions for 2017 so with that in mind, I will continue watching Scorpion and make it a point to post a review of at least two episodes of that month. Allowing for the summer break of course. And I will also make it a point to finish watching Hart of Dixie because there really is no excuse why I can’t finish it since they’re all loaded on Netflix. It’s just #spoileralert

#SpoilerAlert

I’m hesitating because . . . Wade and Zoey! Like, not together? I can’t handle that! And you know, I *know* they get back together, eventually, but . . . I can’t.

Sighs.

But, again, I’ll make it a point to finish Hart of Dixie and post my review on it.

So, to recap my 2017 intentions because 1) I’m a geek and 2) it’ll make it easier for me to reference throughout the year (hm, maybe I’ll make a 2017 Intentions page to keep my on point):

Post at least four book reviews a month

Post at least four movie reviews a month

Follow at least one television series – Scorpion is my pick

Post at least two episode reviews of that television series

Finish Hart of Dixie and post a review

Okay, I know that’s kind of bland (at least, it reads bland to me), but it’s a start, right? I’m hoping to hash this all out by the end of this week. I realize this should have already been done, but better late than never, right? And I did put a deadline on it :P.

So, here’s looking forward to another 365 days (or, well, 362 days now) to carry out my go– I mean, intentions!

Can you believe in 30 minutes it’s December 1st? That is, for folks in Hawaii Standard Time. I realize that half of the world is already into December 1st. The point is, can you believe it’s already December?

Where did the year go?

And just 30 days ago, National Novel Writer’s Month started.

Stats! (59)

Total words written (up until that “59” marker after stats): 14,878Total Daily Posts: 29Average words per day: 496Longest post written: November 6 at 1,378 words (NaBloPoMo15: That Biggest Fear!)Most words written in a day: November 6 at 1,378 words

Did I accomplish my goal?
Even though I didn’t really set goals except for posting daily, I do feel I accomplished what I set out to do. I wrote everyday and I posted 29 out of 30 days (and only due to operator error which was forgetting to click “Publish” before closing my computer).

Any takeaways?
Loads! This is my second year participating in this event and I love the chance to work and focus on writing. And now that I’ve met my goal of posting daily, it’s time to work on content. How to improve my writing.

And that’s not just for blogging but writing in general.

I also appreciate looking back at what I wrote and deciding whether I could have done something different. I haven’t gone through that process yet, but as the year comes to a close, I know that I’m going to be analyzing what went on this year.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I love having an excuse to write everyday, to think about life everyday, and to think about how I want to spend that day so I can write about it.

So, fellow writers and participants in this annual event, how did you do? I hope you were able to accomplish your goals this month and had fun doing so.

September? Already? Time is flying by, I tell ya. Well, it flies by when you’re not really paying attention–I guess.

I apologize for being MIA this past month or so. As my letter to 2015 said, I’ve been tied up in my mind. But I’m forcing myself to stretch my legs and get back to writing! So, here I am.

With that said, I’ve also been mapping out my graduation plans. I’m still a year and a half away from graduating with my BA in European History, but I wanted to lay down a road map so I can see what needs to be done in order for me to graduate on time or sooner. It was Summer 2018, but if I hustle in 2016, I can move that up to Winter 2017. We’ll have to see.

Until then though …

Fun! Well, hopefully fun. Writing at least. And reading. And watching movies and TV shows. Hopefully. If only to give my mind a rest.

So, with all these things being said, my goals for the last four months in 2015:

Post regularly – because I really do miss writing and blogging. If only I can get out of my own way!

Continue to learn Russian – I actually need to break this goal down into manageable parts, but for now, I’m putting it here to hopefully keep me accountable.

It’s my official post of the new year and I am glad to be back. I did decide to give myself a little holiday to celebrate the holiday and me passing the semester with decent grades, when the unexpected happened, I got sick! And of course my brain just couldn’t function properly when I’m sick.

So, 2014. Another year. A fresh start. A new beginning. I can’t help but wonder what my blog post on 12/31/2014 will look like!

And since a new year usually means resolutions and goal setting and new directions, I may as well jump on the bandwagon.

After reviewing some of my stats, the three blogging goals I wish to do this year are:

1) Post at least three times a week

2) Increase page views to 10 times per day

3) Increase site visits to 5 visits per day

I think those are great goals to begin with, at least for now.

I’m still contemplating what goals I wish to carry out on a personal level. There are your typical health goals and then your “live more” goals. There are also financial goals. There’s so much to consider when you are trying to live a balanced life–to make sure everything is, what we say in Hawaii, pono.

I have a deadline to get this done by this Saturday. Yikes!

There are two things that I’ve learned are important to the goal setting process and they are 1) Write them down! and 2) Share them with someone. Writing them down means commitment and sharing them with someone keeps you accountable. I will definitely do both come Saturday.

What are some of your goals this month? Let’s share them so we can motivate each other.

It’s going to be a great year, right? 2014, you’re going to be good to me, right? Positive reinforcements. That is the key. It will be a great year!